Living costs hits adoption figures

THE cost of living crisis is putting families off adopting, senior councillors have been told.

The growing problem is revealed in a report to Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive board by the authority’s children’s’ services boss Cllr Julie Gunn.

The documents assess the performance of Adoption Now, the Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) that provides Adoption Services on behalf of a consortium of six local authorities, for the period April to September.

They are Rochdale, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Bury, Oldham and Tameside.

Cllr Gunn’s report to

Thursday’s executive board meeting says: “In terms of approved adopters there have been 22.

“This is a drop when compared to the same period last year, which was 28.

“This is a national problem, and not localised to Adoption Now. Nationally there is a decrease in adopter approvals of seven per cent.

“Our recruitment and marketing strategy is working, as when compared to other Northwest RAAS, our registration of interest numbers are the highest.

“The numbers of adopters who are withdrawing are on the increase, this is thought to be around the concerns of families increasing their size due to the cost-of living rise, and the complexities of assessments due to the national adoption strategy.

“The projected total for the year of approved adopters, given the numbers of applications in progress is 78, which is higher than last year’s 69, and may make up some of the shortfall.

“However, this needs to be treated with caution given the complexities of assessments.

“During the first six months of the financial year 11 children were subject to a decision that they should be placed for adoption. Of the 11 children, seven were in the nought to two age range, two in the three to four age range, and two in the five to eight range.

“On 30/09/2023 there were 10 children with a plan for adoption, subject to a placement order. This means that the court agrees with the local authority care plan of adoption.

“Four of these children at the time were progressing with links. Of the remaining six children, two had only been waiting for under two weeks, one had been waiting under six months, and the other three had been waiting between six to 12 months since the making of a placement order.

“Significantly, all except one of the 10 children with a placement order were children who we might expect to wait longer by virtue of age, being part of a sibling group, significant medical and or developmentalneeds, emotional and behavioural needs, or a combination of these factors.”

During the first six months of the financial year 11 children were subject to a decision that they should be placed for adoption